Sunday, March 20, 2011

This weekend we were blessed to have Grace Chapel of Indio back to work on the Baby Home. Three bathroom floors and one shower were tiled, the upstairs apartment was textured, and the paint in the upstairs residence was completed. Also, all of the eaves and fascia around the building were painted. The sound proof flooring was installed in half of the upstairs apartment and much of the kitchen in the upstairs residence was worked on.

CALL TO ACTIONPRAY - Please pray for the weather as the exterior color coat of stucco is scheduled to begin on Thursday. We need clear skies for at least three days.

SHARE - Invite a friend to check out the blog and learn about the 40 days of prayer and fasting that we are currently in the midst of. Click here to learn more.

GIVE - During the 40 day fast we are asking you to pray specifically for Grace Babies’ Home and also pray about giving up something everyday and donating the cost of that item to Grace Babies’ Home.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

A newborn baby goes through 10-12 diapers a day. The average cost of a diaper is $0.26. A days worth of diapers for a newborn costs approximately $3.12. The average cost of a Starbucks coffee is $3.00. Would you consider giving up your coffee to provide diapers for a day for an orphaned baby?

Our family has decided to participate in a 40-day give up fast. We will start on March 16th and go until Easter morning on April 24th. For forty days we will give up something that is comfortable but not essential. By giving up that certain something we will be saving money. We will then give that savings to Grace Babies Home via email or text. Every time we give up something, we will stop, email or text our donation, and pray for the babies that will one day live under our roof.

We believe that God is going to do incredible things in our family through this act of sacrifice and lesson on giving. We want to invite you and your family to participate in this 40-day give up fast with us.
Anything you and your family decide to give up has a cost and therefore a savings when you give it up. By directing those savings to Grace Babies’ Home you are choosing to invest in the lives of orphans - a worthy cause that pays eternal dividends.

How does it work?

Type the item or activity that you choose to give up in the subject or body of your email or text along with the amount of your donation. You can do this as many times a day as you give up something. (We plan to have our kids take turns sending our emails.)

For example, if your family chooses to give up snacks and you estimate the value of the snack you are choosing to not eat at that moment to be $2.00, you would send a text or email written “snack 2” in either the subject or the body to gbh@mogiv.com

Note: if you do not already have an account with Mogiv, at this point you would receive an email directing you to set up your account and funding source. Once your account is set up, you can text or email gifts as often as you give something up.

If your teens have their own cell phones, sign them up! When they give up their soda, teach them to donate the savings. The Mogiv site has a great page to view graphs and charts of everything that you have given up. Our family plans to use this tool during family devotions to observe how we are doing on our give up fast.

Here are a few things you and your family can pray about giving up, but the possibilities are endless.
Dessert
New Book
Lunch
Coffee
Dinner
Beer
New Clothes
Sunday Brunch
Snacks
Cigarettes

It may be that you plan to give up any purchases that you don’t absolutely need for 40 days, or that what you give up varies from day to day. There is only one rule in giving – give as purposed in your heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, give cheerfully (2Cor 9:7).

If you plan to join us in this 40-day give up fast, you may want to take two minutes to log onto the Mogiv site ahead of time and set up your giving account. On March 16th we will begin daily posting to the GBH blog specific ways you can be praying for the babies as you begin to give up.